President of Djibouti set to sue Facebook

The president of Djibouti, a small country located on the horn of Africa, has lodged a High Court action in Dublin against Facebook.

It is not clear why Ismaïl Omar Guelleh is suing but he has hired Johnsons solicitors, a firm based in Belfast that has been used by Hollywood celebrities to take defamation cases in Dublin, Belfast and London. Paul Tweed, a partner with Johnsons, declined to comment yesterday saying it would be inappropriate to do so.

Guelleh has been president of Djibouti since 1999 when he took over from his uncle. The country is in the middle of a presidential election campaign, with the vote scheduled for April 8. Opposition parties have called for a boycott of the poll because of a lack of electoral reforms.